Home Solar System Without the Dreaded Credit Check?

Bad Credit? No Credit? No Problem! (In New Jersey, at Least)

The same shtick that keeps used car dealers in business has been
picked up by a New Jersey solar company. A new power purchase agreement
(PPA) offered by US Solargy
is free of one big annoyance for many homeowners: the credit check. It
could be a sweet deal for those struggling in the recession and having
a hard time finding financing for a solar project.

The terms of the PPA are as follows: You, the homeowner, must cover one-third of the initial costs for system installation,
and then buy the power produced at five cents per kilowatt-hour. Put
simply, that’s it. No credit-check, no hassle, no giant up-front
investment. The five cents per kWh rate is considerably less than the
22 cents/kWh that other New Jersey residents would pay for solar power,
and US Solargy guarantees that electricity costs will not rise more
than 3.5% annually. That, too, is much less than the 6.5% annual
increase that the average grid customer in New Jersey must deal with.

According to US Solargy, their average solar customer under the no-credit PPA should see 70-75% monthly energy savings.

The no-credit check selling point is revealing. On the one hand, it
speaks to the confidence of a solar company that its solar system will
perform financially. The company is confident that it will make money
throughout the long term and can simultaneously offer solar electricity
at a price anyone can afford. Of course, the ideal situation for a
homeowner is to own the system outright (or be paying forward to that
day), and New Jersey does have the fastest payback in the country for solar power systems.

Still, a no-credit PPA that reduces monthly utility payments by 75% is a win-win for homeowners with rough credit; you contribute to cleaning up the energy grid
and you’ve also got a little more money each month with which to
improve that credit rating. Just remember to check the fine print.